Needhams 2011 Caribbean Cruise

Home.

2011-12-18T16:36:00.001Z

Gutted. End of.

Last day

2011-12-17T11:41:00.001Z

We are bothrather depressed today. And as if to sympathise with us we look outside and theCaribbean is weeping for us.

Which isn’t agood thing as less people will be sun bathing and the other public areas willbe busy while we wait for out coach. We get kicked out of the room at 9am andshould be picked up at 1pm, we estimate getting back at 5am UK time. And thenwe, sorry I have to drive up from Gatwick to Manchester. I can’t wait!

Nexttime we book early enough to get a Manchester flight!!!

Barbados

2011-12-16T20:41:00.002Z

A cool tripbut well, it’s all a bit depressing really.

The trip wasexcellent, a boat ride along the cost before getting in and swimming literallywith the turtles. They were weaving in and a around us, they have tough headsas plenty of people kicked them, accidentally of course, we hope. Also saw astingray and the tour guys managed to lure it near the surface so at least wegot a decent look at one, not as good as Grand Turk would have been but betterthan nothing. All very crowded again which is no good where Shell is concerned!She kicked one in the head as well. And those people who feel its ok to diveunder when in a group of 30 people, it really isn’t. Its fecking annoying whenyou kick us and then surface in our face. Knobs.

Packing now. Depressed. Hmpf.

St Lucia

2011-12-15T22:59:00.000Z

Off early,onto another boar for some Dolphin and Whale watching. And boy did we do somewatching. Many a picture and video taken, hopefully they will do it justice. Spentmost of the time on the front of the boat, it was hard work not to fall over! Oncewe had our fill we headed to a nice bay of holiday homes and yachts, very niceindeed. Then back to the boat, after a few rum punches of course. So back onland at 12 already half cut, did some shopping and then to the bars dottedaround the port.

IncidentallyI think I’m beginning to detest people who smoke. On the boat we were lookingat the dolphins and two people were smoking, they just threw their fag ends inthe sea and then let their empty packet blow in as well. They disgust me.

Two localbeers (Piton) for $3 and at 5% it was good stuff. Honestly, I lost count howmany I had, it was quite a few, then after abusing the free port side wifi westaggered back on board for food. Then back to room where Michelle fell asleepand I watched as we set sail.

Barbadostomorrow and a snorkel with the turtles and of course more fish.

Ocho Rios pics from AM

2011-12-15T19:01:00.000Z

Dominica

2011-12-15T12:04:00.001Z

More swimmingwith the fishes today. But not until 2 in the afternoon so lazed around for awhile, mooched onshore and did some more tat shopping in the market, but jovethese islands have lots of tat!! Then back on board for a bit chilling readingon balcony.

So strangethat on the port side of the ship that was actually facing the port it was sonoisy, people bustling, cars beeping music playing. And on our side nothing,silence. Mainly because next door were not it!

We set offfor the tour and got straight in the water once the boat stopped, a lot fasterthan the one before. This one was kind of guided, we got split into groups andfollowed a guide each, he tried to shout and point to the interesting fish.This time the Playsport worked! I made sure by stopping each video after 5 orso minutes and checking they saved, so we have about 9 videos. I look forwardto boring people with them. Some of the time it was jerky as there were simplytoo many people doing it, we all get crashing into each other. Perhaps somecareful editing will make it look more professional. We snorkelled near one ofthe vents from a volcano 1 mile inland (with Dominca being a volcanic islandnatch) so the sea was cool then hot alternately. And the gases escaping fromthe vent gave the reef its name, Champagne, because you guessed it, bubbles!Lots of them in one area, I think I captured it quite well on video. Of coursewe were told it doesn’t taste like champagne so don’t drink it. For me this wasbetter snorkelling than the one before as it was much clearer and calmer. Andno jellyfish!

Then it wasback on board just before the heavens opened again. It does like to surpriseyou around here! Photos from top deck:

Antigua

2011-12-13T22:47:00.003Z

Swimming withthe fishes today! Including those creepy fecking jelly fish, but not thedangerous sort.

Early tour soon our way at 8:45, at Paradise Reef at 9 and straight in the water. Which wasdamn cool. We had 45 minutes in the water which in reality was about 25 aftereveryone had finally got in, a slow process. Apart from the bloke who broughthis own kit and was straight in there with his underwater camera. But, we haveone of those! A Kodak Playsport and it failed. Failed BADLY. God damn it.

I shot about16 minutes of continuous footage thinking it would look great. 1080presolution, it was going to be brilliant! I pressed the stop button and madeout the timer had stopped, all good. Then held down the power button andthought it had switched off. Once back on the boat I pulled it out of my pocketto see it was still on. Held power button again, nothing. Oh dear. Battery outand in and back up and running but video file corrupt. Bugger. Copied it tolaptop so will see if it is retrievable back home.

We thensailed to one of Antiguas 365 beaches. During this part the Chavs on Tour groupcame into their own with the rum punch. Fag dimps over the side that the fishtried to eat, complete scummers in my opinion.

The beach wasbeautiful, sandy, quiet, clear seas, Blackpool it was not. Back on the boat andmore rum punch to sail back to port. CoT came into their own again dancing onside of boat, captain had to tell them 3 or 4 times to stop, should have letthem fall over board and feck em!

Back on shorewe did some shopping in the market, more tat yay, then headed back to boat justin time. 5 minutes after we got back on board the heavens opened. A lot. Forquite a while. All in all a cracking day, ignoring the CoT!

Sat typingthis on balcony, so so quiet. Some photos from boat below.

You probably can't see it but this was very very heavy rain

Caribbean Princess leaving just before us

And she is off

And so are we :(

St Maartin

2011-12-13T11:07:00.002Z

Crackingtour. Coach ride in middle of island from the Dutch side to the French side,then onto the French capital Marigot for some shopping then back on the coachfor a ride on a boat around the Laguna. This included beer and rum punch. Whichwas free. Yes, you can guess where this was going.

An hourlater, everyone drunk we had sailed around the Laguna looking into all the richpeople’s houses with our guide saying they ranged from $6000 to $50,000 each.To rent. For a week.

Got somecracking photos of them, I really like the smaller ones with their own privategarden leading to the Laguna with a speed boat at the end. No point gettinginto the car to go to the shops on the other side, just hop in the speed boat!It is a very nice place.

When we winthe lottery (I do hope Leighton has been putting the ticket on...) we havedecided to spend a month on each island to see which one we prefer to live on.Although internet speeds may be a factor....here you can have 2mb for $50 or4mb for $85. The 4mb is faster than my current Sky connection but admittedly atad more expensive.

Antiguatoday!

Pics from boat of Philipsburg

2011-12-12T13:07:00.000Z

A day at sea

2011-12-12T11:29:00.003Z

The third dayin a row at sea, which is fine but not when one of those days should have beenswimming with the fishes! As we had the sun all day on our big balcony wedecided to sunbath there away from the riff raff. So had breakfast, grabbedsome stuff from a sale and wondered around the Atrium looking at presentationsof how the ship works. Then to the bar for some cans/bottles, back to room,drinks in fridge and out on the balcony. Read another book, Shell has yet tostart hers. Pointless bringing it!

Last formalevening which is good, soon my dinner shirt won’t fit. We decided to try the MarcoPierre White restaurant which was fantastic. Then we went to the local to takepart in the Offside quiz. Pub split in two, captains for each side, sportsquestions. Was quite entertaining, some peoples answers make you wonder.

Weather wiseso far it has been hot, a sprinkling of showers, some more hot and for goodmeasure a bit more hot. The last two days have also been windy so a bit ofrocking on the old boat but nothing compared to crossing the Bay of Biscay.

St Maartintoday, just waiting for Shell to get up so we can get breakfast and get ready.So far we haven’t been late for a trip but you never know...

Some pics of Jamaica from boat

2011-12-11T13:15:00.000Z

Grand Turk - not

2011-12-11T13:12:00.001Z

Not botheredwith an update for a bit because frankly I can’t be bothered! We were supposedto go to Grand Turk yesterday but as you may have seen from the tweets that didnot happen. Apparently the wind speed was outside the safety envelope forVentura to dock. Bull! This world is far too safe these days, in the old days Ibet they would have docked! Captain needs to grow a pair. We made threeattempts but each time we got close the ship turned and pulled away.

After thesecond attempt all early morning tours were cancelled, ours narrowly surviving,but we knew deep down it wasn’t going to be. Whilst we waited for the thirdattempt we watched the footy (United) in the bar while we waited, amazingly Idid not have a beer during the game, mainly because it was 10am. During thesecond half we made the third attempt and most people started staring out thewindow to see if we were going to make it, just as everyone got their hopes upwe turned and pulled away. Captain then announced that it was cancelled and wewould slowly make our way to the next destination. Gutted.

No snorkellingwith the fishes and playing with Stingrays for us.

And now wehave another sea day as we meander to St Maartin. I would have put the ship tothe max so we could get there today perhaps and spend a day and bit on land. Ahwell.

One good andbad thing is that all the formal nights will be over tonight, each one has beenduring a sea day and that means the remainder of the holiday are a shore daysso no more wearing a shirt that feels like it is strangling me and making sureI don’t spill food on it.

Still quite afew people who don’t bother to make the effort, throw them overboard I say.When little kids are walking around dressed up you boring adults damn wellshould make the effort as well.

So far no oldladies sucking pizzas or burgers.

And I won’tbe replying to any tweets I make as they are being done by text so I won’t seethem.

2011-12-08T23:41:00.001Z

Today we dida walking tour of Dunns Falls and Coyaba Gardens. We didn’t do the climb ofDunns Falls, perhaps next time, we will be coming back. Next time we will be indecent condition to walk up! Those that did seemed to have a great time; we hada great time laughing at them falling over.

The gardenswere very nice and we had a great view of Ocho Rios so we had some nice snapsfrom the camera.

Everyone wasvery friendly, but of course that is so they can sell you stuff from theirmarket stand, we nearly missed the coach because of them. The weather wasstupidly hot, we had a couple of drinks on the back of the boat while chattingto the barman but had to make our excuses and leave. So we went inside to anice air conditioned bar and chatted to another barman from India. Wonder if heknows anyone I work with....

As I said wewill be coming back here for a holiday, a day is not long enough to adjust tothe irie no problem culture. From one days experience I think I could livehere. Yes, over Bonnaire.

Some pics from Bonaire

2011-12-06T19:07:00.000Z

Curacao day

2011-12-06T11:58:00.001Z

Did a semisub tour which consisted of a boat with a glass hull, you all filed downstairsto sit 5 foot under water two astride and then sailed over the coral which was prettygood. Then one of the tour guys dived in to feed the fish so we had hundredsswimming past the glass. Got some video and pictures, pictures are quiteblurred but the video seemed to turn out ok.

Then we wentonto the Curacao liqueur factory and bought a small sample which will no doubtbe consumed over the next week or so. While at the factory a woman I can bestdescribe as Tubbs from League of Gentleman slipped and fell, yelled for a bit,hobbled back to coach, cried for a bit then manned up and went shopping afterwe were dropped off.

Too damn hotand very humid, got back on boat had some lunch and sat at back in the sun,then moved to shade, then moved indoors!! We did a Name that Tune quiz and thenFulham v Liverpool came on unexpected which was nice. I reckon there were about150 people sat inside watching the match rather than being outside in 30ctemperatures, good lads. And some women too!!

Half cut itwas shower time then out for another great meal and some wine followed by bed.To sleep. You disgust me.

Curacao

2011-12-05T11:36:00.001Z

Up at 7 butnot out and about yet. Easy to get up, we have a natural alarm clock next door,a kid that doesn't stop talking and likes to let their room door shut on itsown, so it slams and shakes everything. I'm sure the parents will get asgrip....not...too busy chain smoking on the balcony it seems.

Today we aredoing semi sub thing to check out under the sea and then a trip to a liquorfactory. I must remind Michelle to put lotion on, she is burnt already and itwasn’t even sunny. Bloody woman J

Drunk

2011-12-05T02:07:00.001Z

What of it? Formal night tonight, cracking food in restaurant as expected, now smashing some cocktails in. It's hell.

Where did the sun go?

2011-12-04T19:08:00.001Z

Woke up this morning, no sun, but plenty of rain!

However it's really warm and humid. Breakfast was great as usual, bought some nice watches as they are on offer, also picked up a garish shirt, not sure it will outdo Andy though.

Just watched footy in a bar that has about 20 screens in it! As soon as it finished in came the amateur dancers.

A looooong day (03/12)

2011-12-04T12:15:00.001Z

Up at 5am,airport for 6:30, flight for 9 hours. At least the plane was really comfy soyou didn't get aching back or legs...oh wait...

The pilotalso seemed to get his timings wrong so we worked it out (and the guy next tous) that we had about 40mins left, no, 1 hour 40 mins!

Once welanded we had a 45 minute drive from airport to port and in one quite randomscene the traffic stopped as a truck with massive speakers drove past blastingout Caribbean tunes with about 50 people walking behind it dancing, you don’tsee that in Manchester. Once we arrived we had to check in using ‘Shed 3’. Thisis basically just a big concrete building which made you feel like a turkeybeing roasted in the oven on Christmas Day. It must have been bad as the womenin front was crying and having cross words with what we think is her husband to be. Wethink perhaps the trip has not gone smoothly so far for them.

After theroasting we got on board, straight to the room as we know where we are going(well Shell does), dumped bags, to the bar and caught about 50 seconds of thematch. Still we won, which was nice. We then proceeded to get drunk veryquickly, do muster, have another drink then have some grub, back to the room tofinish unpacking and then crashed at 10pm.

10pm Caribbeantime, 2am UK time. Like I said a long day.

Why do we worry

2011-12-03T07:32:00.001Z

Check in desk very nice and didn't care about cases being overweight. And they didn't weigh the hand luggage, thank god!

Now we sit and wait, surely there is a better way of doing this.

Hope one on boat is better....

2011-12-02T22:39:00.001Z

Arrived

2011-12-02T20:56:00.001Z

Finally arrived at Gatwick Travelodge. A dump if I'm honest. Still just one night, our half really as we have to be at airport for 6.

Packing joys

2011-12-02T13:10:00.001Z

So, cases are half packed and weigh in at 17kgs each give or take. Everything going to go in? Not. A. Chance.

Mobile view

2011-12-02T10:56:00.001Z

This blog should also switch to mobile view should you feel the need to check it on your phone.

Another blog

2011-12-01T19:14:00.001Z

People wanted this, might keep it up to date. Might not. Depends on how many rum based drinks have been consumed...